You have a good eye.one did get whacked.you get a bit tired trying to dig nearly a foot into hard ground.we use 5000s still.the 90 grammar and the 45 grammar were about 2 inches deep and the 30 grammars were about a foot deep.we are in Western Australia

Isn't it amazing how you can go to an old patch that has been hammered for years and still find this amount of gold.pulled up and there were already a couple of fresh diggings where we parked the car but still decided to have a go and after finding a few little ones I walked about 50 meters from the car and thought I had found a can lid but the big one popped out.was very happy

I had a pair of gold pro earphones and broke the head piece then bought a pair of blackwidows but after the first trip I wrecked the black widows all my own fault(didn't shut the tail gate of the camper trailer correctly) but I put the gold pro ear phones onto the bw head piece and they work great.i think that has a lot to do with finding the really quiet signals compared to still hearing outside noise with the koss. that's on the 5000

hey roo if you haven't already read my post on here saying I had a couple of good months I think you should read it and maybe try what I do.i would love to see if works for someone else.it amazes me what I find and you wont miss a signal.don't be afraid to use a smaller coil either

hey roo that looks like a piece I found at a patch that had been quite hammered every time I find a nice piece it always has a little friend nearby.interested to know if its a new area because when I find a piece like that all the other gold has been uphill from it.another thing I have been doing lately is checking right up on top of the hill where it looks like it has come from.

hey guys my new technique is one you probably all have used for years .ive got nearly every coil on the market but have gone back to the minelab 11 inch mono and scrape it on the ground. i live up north in western australia and in most parts the ground is very noisy but putting up with the noise is paying off because the nuggets are heard pretty easily.sometimes i,m actually dissappointed because the machine will be screaming and i dig 4 to 6 inches for a half grammer or smaller.a lot of people up where i live play secret squirrel and wont give up too many hints so i just learn by mistakes or by trying something new.i go through skid plates every couple of days so i tried a frisbee which actually fits the coil perfectly and even where i live they only cost about 3 bucks compared to 25 bucks for the skid plate.they last twice as long too.in the photo of the gold weighing 12 grams there are 55 nuggets in the pile most weighing .1 of a gram and i found it where people have been going for years.the big rock had 35 grams in it the most gold i,ve ever found in one rock and it was down creek from where me and a mate stumbled on a patch where we found about 6 ounces.would like to know where the bigger rock came from so still looking.would like a few hints on any timings that mite help if anyone is interested or willing to help out. thanks fred

SINCE I HAVE UPDATED TO THE 5000 I HAVE HAD HUGE SUCCESS WITH THE COILTEK JOEY MONO. SMALLEST NUGGETS ARE AROUND 0.1 OF A GRAM.ALSO SOME 3 TO 4 GRAMMERS UP TO 8 INCHES DEEP. MOST OF THESE HAVE COME FROM MY OLD PATCHES THAT I USED MY 4500 ON. ROUGHLY 50 GRAMS OVER 5 WEEKS. GOING SLOWER SEEMS TO BE THE BEST FOR ME

thanks very much for that information pete.i used those settings the other night at a couple of spots and didnt find anything not to say its not there.took a while to get used to the speed but i stopped off at a spot on the way home that has been absolutely hammered for years and within 5 minutes and in amongst about 20 bits of rubbish i got a very faint signal.i dug for a while and after digging about a foot deep i found a specimen with a bit of gold sticking out in a few spots.it screamed quite a bit so the next day i crushed it and got just over 11 grams out of it.was my first ever specy so i was very happy.found a few other little nuggets as well but not sure if i would have found them with my old settings.thanks again for your help houghy